Baidu's Q2 revenue contracts, but beats estimates on cloud business growth

Total revenue shrank by 5% to 29.65 billion yuan ($4.43 billion) in the second quarter, compared with analysts' average estimate of 29.30 billion yuan, according to Refinitiv data

China's search engine giant Baidu Inc beat quarterly revenue estimates on Tuesday, underpinned by growth in its cloud business, even as it reported its first year-on-year quarterly revenue contraction in two years.
 

Total revenue shrank by 5 per cent to 29.65 billion yuan ($4.43 billion) in the second quarter, compared with analysts' average estimate of 29.30 billion yuan, according to Refinitiv data.

U.S.-listed shares of the company rose 3.2 per cent in premarket trading.

Even as Baidu's core advertising sales continue to be soft, customers are signing up for its cloud services - a key area of growth globally - as demand